Gran Meliá Palazzo Cordusio

“This building is one of Milan’s most famous structures,” says Alessandro Soldi, the luxury hotel’s ebullient general manager, and himself a Milan native. “Just looking at it gives me goosebumps.” Soldi’s not alone.

Daily, dozens of tourists and locals stop in front of the stately 19th century landmark, photographing its marble detailing and posing under the whimsical mosaic lunette depicting Providence.

Before opening as the Palazzo Cordusio in December 2023, the building served as the headquarters for the Italian insurance giant Assicurazioni Generali, a company whose Venetian roots inspired both the façade’s sculpted lion of San Marco and its moniker, Palazzo Venezia. Designed by renowned Milanese architect and preservationist Luca Beltrami and built between 1897 and 1901, the five-story structure features impressive details like a dramatic sweeping staircase, a glass-topped interior courtyard and an octagonal dome with 360-degree views.

To capture the building’s original glamour and update it for demanding contemporary travelers, the Palazzo Cordusio hired architects Alvaro and Adriana Sans, of Studio ASAH. They transformed the interior into 84 rooms and suites, adding a gym, a wellness center and setting the hotel’s reception under a gloriously restored cupola, conveying a sense of the city’s grandeur and history.

The Cordusio team focused their culinary offerings on Milan’s love of traditional cafes, glamourous cocktails, southern Italian food and hyper chic Japanese dining. Guests can start their day at Gioia, a jewel box cafe led by renowned pastry chef Fabio Bertoni, and later stop for an aperitivo in the Giardino Cordusio, a courtyard cocktail bar designed by one of Italy’s most celebrated barmen. The Isola Italian restaurant and the Japanese restaurant Sachi each have terraces overlooking the Duomo, Milan’s majestic cathedral.

It's a quiet form of opulence, and one the hotel celebrates in every detail, including lavish Frette bathrobes and plush linens. Working with Frette to custom design bedding and bathrobes that “engulf” the guests, Palazzo Cordusio’s team chose a warm, earthy tone as the custom thread color for the hotel logo adorning guest bathrobes, and for stitching on linens.

“We are absolutely dedicated to providing the best in luxury, and Frette’s essential to that,” Soldi says.

Another essential element: the hotel’s location. Less known among tourists who focus on the city’s famed “golden quadrilateral” — the fashionable shopping streets bordered by Via della Spiga and Via Montenapoleone — Palazzo Cordusio sits in a central square originally named for the city’s 14th century Ducal Court (Cors Ducis). A pedestrian pathway leads to the Castello Sforzesco, Milan’s medieval castle. The Palazzo Cordusio also sits adjacent to two of the city’s most prominent squares: the Piazza Mercanti, which served as a marketplace dating back to the 13th century, and the Piazza del Duomo, home to the city’s cathedral, and to its iron and glass enclosed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

The squares were neglected for many decades, their important buildings marred by graffiti and trash, but as Milan becomes increasingly forward looking, the city’s burnished them, restoring their dignity and visual appeal.

In addition to those areas, the city’s investing in major renovations, including adding green spaces and more pedestrian walkways. International retail businesses are filling Piazza Cordusio’s neoclassical and Art Nouveau facades.

And where better to contemplate the city’s storied past and energetic present than from the comfort of Palazzo Cordusio’s fifth floor terrace, enjoying a fritto misto, sipping a cocktail, and if the temperature drops, cocooning in a custom Frette blanket.